Hey Bob, I've been a big fan up until now but the claim you make about nerds and geeks being superior to other people - it's ridiculous. People are scared of what they don't understand, and bullies do tend to bully people with a higher intellect than themselves but not always. I don't know if this is because I grew up in England but the people who bullied me were just as smart as me, it just happened that they were socially accepted as well whilst I wasn't.

My main qualm however is about the claim of superiority. Whoever you are, a human life is a human life. Bill Gates is saterised as much as any rich man, it just happens that he's (or was depending who you ask) the richest one and is also a geek. Druglords are saterised as well and portrayed as evil, does that make them geeks?

Whilst I agree on most things you say Bob this one just seemed ignorant

I was picked on, though the I think the main reason now is because I'm a motherfucking giant compared to everybody else. Tallest guy in elementary school in grade 7. Ya, I'm not kidding. But ya, the reason I was picked on is because they could get a reaction out of me. Ya I'm smart. And ya, I'm pretty smart. But the only reason they picked on me was because they could piss me off. But I have to say that that wasn't my fault, I have aspergers so that's not my fault. For anybody that doesn't know, it means I have crazy anxiety issues. Anyways, I was different in school. Before a single drip of nerdyness came from me they picked on me. But ya, pro tip to you guys that are picked on, don't try and get back at them. And DEFINETLY don't try the "Ya whatever, I don't care" route, it doesn't work.

It must have taken courage to admit what made you what you are. Sorry about the really weird sentence structure. Every aspect of my persona probably traces back to being home-schooled in a hyper conservative household.

If I was a mutant I would eschew the conflict entirely, use my powers to become extremely rich, and live in total obscurity. Then I would work out a way to give everyone else superpowers, whether they want them or not. When everyone is superior, no one will be.

2 things:1.) I always enjoy seeing that group shot from X-Men: Evolution2.)I would probably be on the 'work with the people that hate and fear me'(edit:wow I couldn't just say professor X's side) side until about the second time people screamed in terror at me helping them with superpowers.

edit: I would try to crawl back to the X-men once Magneto goes on one of his whole "WIPE OUT HUMANITY!!!MUWAHAHAHA" rants though. This is becoming a tougher decision the more I think about it.

To be fair, Michael Jordan received ridicule for the way he stuck out his tongue while playing basketball and didn't make varsity his first years of high school.

Not that Bill Gates didn't receive unfair treatment, but Michael Jordan doesn't seem like a good example to reinforce the notion that jocks are always idolized above nerds, since he wasn't really a jock. In fact, I would say that part of the reason he was loved by so many is that he had humble beginnings that we could relate to more easily. Sure, he was talented, but he also showed a lot of people what can be achieved through perseverance and hard work.

Oh I think mister Bob knows about the arrogant little snot getting set right, but that's not the situation he's talking about. I think my situation is more what he means; whatever you do or do not do you'll end up as the bully's target, you try to hide and run away and keep away from them, but all they'll do is hunt you down and threaten you that if you don't stay away from them (yeah...) they'll stick that knife in your belly.

Now that's a severe example, but you get the point; even if you try to blend in, act normal and stay away you'll end up getting your face smashed.

Thing is that if Bob behaves in real life anything like he behaves in his videos I can see him pissing off a lot of people. He's frankly a little condescending. I've seen plenty of nerds who think they've done nothing wrong but have (consciously or not) baited people into hating them. Someone who resorts to bullying is often insecure and to insinuate that that person is stupid is a very unwise thing to do.

Despite this, and despite the 'victims' claiming innocence, I've almost never seen someone legitimately get bullied. What I have seen far more often is some little gobshite starting a war they weren't ready to fight because they mistakenly believed they were so far ahead of everyone else that they were untouchable.

Strange. I am quite the nerd, and I stopped being picked on when I turned 12, I.E. when I went to college. Maybe it's because here the classes are divided into groups with about the same results (not IQ, but more of a learning test)

LOL, I wasn't sure what to make of this episode but the ultimate conclusion was well worth a laugh. That really is a question no one knows the answer to until the moment they are in the situation. I'd like to think I'd resist my darker impulses, or at least eventually grow out of it...

Tarkand:There's another reason why Magneto is right anyway... technically, 'Homo Superior' isn't some kind of mutation (i.e. despite being called Mutant)... it's evolution.

Meaning that in the Marvel Universe (barring that whole House of M debacle), in a couple hundred years - the 'mutants' will be the majority. And Magneto, if history keeps his name around, will probably be seen as some kind of messianic figure.

I know this sounds pretentious and pedantic. But the idea that evolution is a linear progression from worse to better is actually a myth. In times of abundance traits that don't confer any selective advantage can survive and even flourish. And natural selection does not necessarily favor the strongest trait, but the one most suited to the particular place and time in which it resides. And being a mutant in the X-men universe confers significant disadvantages as well as advantages, like ordinary people and other mutants wanting to kill you.

The most common reason boys get bullied is really quite simple; sexism.

Whereas women fought for and won the right to freedom from constrictive gender expectations, men are still very much trapped in "the man box", or the rules to being a man. (note that I'm not saying feminism has been "won", only that now a woman won't be criticized for say, wearing pants, taking a job as doctor, or anything else considered to be traditionally "male").

When you ask someone what positive attributes make a man "a man", they'll give you examples like "caring for their family, working hard, understanding the needs of others, being kind" etc. You'll realize that these are things we usually attribute to being a good person, and apply just as easily to women as men.

When you ask someone to truthfully tell you what defines "masculinity", they'll tell you something along the lines of "aggressiveness, dominance, competition, strength, power, heterosexuality" etc. Essentially, all fairly negative and violent attributes. The main thing to keep in mind is that masculinity is most importantly defined by being not femininity and not homosexuality.

By this definition, masculinity is something that must constantly be reaffirmed and put on display for others, whether it's proven by playing sports, fighting, having sex with numerous women, drinking, or pointing out and criticizing feminine qualities in others. Bullying, particularly the physical kind, is a display of dominance and therefore masculinity. The bully is reaffirming his dominance and masculinity, usually by picking a male victim who fails to meet a certain "manly" criteria.

What's most interesting about sexism against men is that it's enforced most strongly by other men. Rarely (though not "never") will a woman criticize a man for breaking gender roles, but if a man steps outside the masculine criteria, you can bet his circle of male friends will step in immediately to call him a "queer, pussy, fag or homo" (note that the most common terms men use to insult each other are based either in femaleness or homosexuality).

Anyway, the bottom line is that even though women have freed themselves from constrictive gender identities, "masculinity" is still considered highly more valuable than "femininity". That's why the little girl who likes robots and hates dresses is applauded, but the little boy who has an Easy Bake oven and doesn't like roughhousing with other boys makes his parents worry and is bullied on the playground.

People often overlook men's issues because males are given so much privilege in our society that it's assumed they have no issues to begin with. However, the way in which we define "masculinity" in our culture not only severely restricts men, but also encourages negative attitudes towards anything that is not included in the definition, like homosexuality and femininity.

Disclaimer: My message is not that being a man or being "manly" is evil. It is also not my opinion that everyone who gets bullied is inherently "unmanly". My intention is to make people think about how they define masculinity, and how they treat people who don't conform to that definition.

370999:I hate, absolutely hate this whole time machine social caste people draw up of intelligent geeks who are oppressed by the majority of atheltic assholes. there is nothing wrong with being athetlic at all. Heck training every day is admirable as it shows both discpline and effort. And being a geek does not mean you are instantly smart, it tends to be more intelligent lads and ladies who are geeks but even then it is no gurantee.

And do you know what? some of the worse bullying happens within geek groups, people absolutly rubbishing someone for not going with group mentality. Imagine someone suggesting they prefered the newer Star wars films or that they liked the fourth Indianna Jones film. They would be completely hounded for that heresy. Geeks bullying just as much as other groups. It was among my geeky friend where some of the most intricate plans for social humiliation were carried out.

I'm not saying that as a group geeks bully more, but that this view that we are the punching bag of the world is silly.

As for the whole Magneto thing, you do know that means you could never have human frineds or mayy a nice human girl? I think it's a bit scary that people here think that siding with the Magnet controlling Racist is a good choice. He's clearly portrayed as evil ablbeit sympathetically and so too are some of the evil humans. The point is that what you are doing with Magneto is basically (and this is intended by the authors to be ironic) siding with a Nazi by an other name. Same superiority stuff, same we have been oppressed stuff.

370999 is right about geeks being just as prone to bullying as other groups. A lot of my college friends are big movie buffs, which is fun because it means I get to watch classics and talk all that English class type talk about movies, but it creates an environment of almost militant snobbery. My girlfriend, who is friends with most of my friends, says she's afraid to share her opinion about some movies because she knows the others would rip into her about it. I've even been called out for saying I think the first Transformers movie is not completely garbage but just mostly garbage.

It is due to differences that certain people are often abused. But conflict due to differences is an age old story, people have been fighting over conflicting religions, countries and cultures for as long as history has been recorded.

But as grand as large issues like that may be, it even applies on a smaller scale.

I'm not abused physically, or even very rarely, much like you, I also managed to become one of the more physically prominent members of my class. But before I became as tall as I am now, I put up with a lot of grief simply because I was the quiet kid who would rather sit in the corner of the room drawing, than to go outside and play football with all of the "normal" kids.

We're drawn to the things that stand out, you see this all of the time in stage plays, if there is a group of 3 people to the left side of the stage and 1 person standing alone to the right, the audience's eyes will be drawn to the man standing alone rather than to the group.

With that in mind, plus a young, possibly insecure, child who feels as though he needs to assert his dominance in the room, it seems fairly simple who he will target for his special brand of hazing.

I don't think that "different" is interchangeable with "superior", but I think those in the "different" category are more likely to develop independently from the group and explore different ideas and talents.

I honestly don't know what side I would be on. I'd empathize with both groups to an extent but I don't know if I could agree with either method. Being a psycho a la the brotherhood is too extreme but the x-men seem to roll over and take it sometimes from those who hate them. Seems like it's either 'kill or rule them all' or 'let's all hold hands' and the latter isn't really realistic. There are always going to be people who hate people who are different, human nature, and trying to prevent or stop that just isn't plausible.

I think I'm going to go with the Deadpool side as well. Either that or team 'I don't really give a shit.' If I absolutely had to choose and I was going to be either killed, locked in a cell or something else of the sort for my powers I'd be with Magneto.

I've been picked on off and on throughout my years in school. Honestly, I don't even think about it anymore because I view it as irrelevant.

But that logic isn't really fun or what this conversation is about. As for me and the team of Mutants I would probably end up on, it's a tough call. I honestly like Magneto better than most any X-Men character. But I prefer the ideals of the X-Men over Magneto's. I'll just say this. So long as Beast and Gambit were still around on the X-Men, I'd probably join them. Otherwise, I'm all on the other side. Easily.

If I may, I'd like to provide my own view on why geeks and intellectuals are oscracized (I can never spell that damn word right):

We ask questions. Intellectuals are the way they are because they ask questions about why things work. They learn why they work, and then they most likely call bullshit on how the whole system works. Sometimes it could be something insignificant, but the society that abhors any inkling of chaos or disorder will actively persecute those who start asking questions. Look at Gallilao: the Catholic church didn't persecute him because he proved that the world revolved around the sun, it was because if he could call them out on something that small, he could call them out for just about anything.

Nerds and intellectuals are in the same camp: we ask questions and challenge the established order. We think, and since nature abhors a vacuum, society abhors anybody who challenges the establishment. Thus we're demonized as being social deviants or "elitist" and those who are considered of "average" intelligence are applauded as being "true" americans/citizens/insert positive lable here.

Authority and order will always be at odds with those who think and ask questions: intellectuals and geeks by extension. I was raised to think and to call out those who abuse their powers. But you know what, I'd rather live in a world where we're oschricized for being "different" and asking questions. If it wasn't difficult, it would'nt be worth it.

Besides, just because you're smart doesn't mean you're not an asshole. I can personally attest that it's all to easy to use intelligence to look down on people.

Also, it's always been my understanding that bullying was the result of an inborn desire for a stratified social structure. Just like dogs.I can't say I've really tested the theory in any credible way, but treating bullies as though they were predators worked really well for me in high school. Someone threatened me? I threatened them back, bigger. It didn't make them like me, but it got them to f*** off.

Because a predator tends to avoid prey which has the potential to injure it, even if they are reasonably certain they'd win the fight.

I too spent a good number of my younger years being picked on and abused by my peers. Hell, I had to switch Jr. High Schools because it got so bad. But even after all that, my life goals are still more in the realm of Professor X than Magneto.

You see, right now I'm studying to become a High School Counselor. First and foremost, as said counselor, my office would provide a bastion for the ostracized and abused to shelter in from the slings and arrows of their oppressors. But, and this is the more important aspect really, I would also use my position and innate grasp of human psychology to unravel the minds of the bullies too, helping them to realize what they are and the effect they have. Only by showing them the light helping them to change their ways can we hope to create a better school environment for every student.

And I know the job will never be done, and the toil will be endless and often unrewarding, but if I can get even one bully to change their ways, save even one victim from taking their own life, then all my work and time will have been justified.

I'd be on the side very against those who hurt me at school. Bastards... quick question for x-meninites out there, was it magneto or dr. x who was the one in the jewish ghetto? cuz im on his side. jew represent!

I never really experienced this in school. My school had a gifted program starting at kindergarten, so every one I grew up with was essantially a nerd. Middle school was the same, we were smart we hung out with each other, not becuase we didnt like any one else but these were the poeople we have known from the age of 6 and who we had classes with.

I really didnt have the problem with highschool, you meet more intullectually driven people who you make friends with and thats that. But I can see why some people have the an anti nerd/intullectual reaction. When ever me and my friends had elective classes (sculpture, band, psycology etc) we were rather surpised with the stuff other people stuggled with.

Did any one else have a gifted/honors program in there schools? I think that maybe having every one kept in the same classes may be what cuased this whole nerd bullying issue. Im not saying that Im pro intullectual segregation, but I do think being segregated let me escape this whole issue.

Edit/addition

By the way I still be with the brother hood of evil. If you start demonizing you open up a social contract for retailiation, also not very smart to insult some one who can lift a city with a mear taught.

You have a point, though I'd hardly say that's the only reason. And with the social and political rise of the non-masculine man I'm not sure this attitude will remain forever.

You're right, it's not the only reason (if it were, then there wouldn't be such a thing as female bullies), but it sure is a big one. You have only to hang out with the average group of teenage boys and count how many times the insults I mentioned before (pussy/fag/queer etc) are thrown around to see how big it is.But you're also right that it's declining. Homophobia, for example, has gone a hundred fold in the last few decades, though of course it's not gone yet. I'd say it's all for the better.

and good job downplaying someone else's talents an accomplishments just because you deemed then inferior to what you consider important. Yeah all Jordon does is bounce a ball. There are no other people on the field trying to stop him or steal it. It doesn't take constant exercise and practice and actual effort to be able to bounce that ball or anything. It's so unimportant and worthless that anyone can do it.

Y'know it's people like you that give nerds and geeks a bad name. You're so smug and egotistical that you think that anyone who doesn't have a encyclopedic knowledge of unix or the inner workings of the mushroom kingdom is somehow beneath you and that no one else's efforts matter

Do you know why Michal Jordon is considered a hero. It's not because of what he does it's beacuse unlike some prissy little geek who cries when things don't go his way he had the determination to prove his worth. He worked hard to accomplish his goals and to show the world that he and anyone else can achieve their goals by working at. And that's more than Bill Gates or you ever did.

Generic Gamer:Thing is that if Bob behaves in real life anything like he behaves in his videos I can see him pissing off a lot of people. He's frankly a little condescending. I've seen plenty of nerds who think they've done nothing wrong but have (consciously or not) baited people into hating them. Someone who resorts to bullying is often insecure and to insinuate that that person is stupid is a very unwise thing to do.

Despite this, and despite the 'victims' claiming innocence, I've almost never seen someone legitimately get bullied. What I have seen far more often is some little gobshite starting a war they weren't ready to fight because they mistakenly believed they were so far ahead of everyone else that they were untouchable.

Condescending? Where? He's just explaining a theory, what goes on in the heads of certain bully victims.

Now I ain't saying there aren't cases like the one you describe, I've seen it myself too, but that doesn't mean that there's a large group of honest bully victims out there, people who are just too afraid to do anything back, people who wouldn't dare 'starting a war' as you describe it because they damn well know what'll happen (or will happen regardless). I'm honestly surprised you've never seen people gotten properly bullied, bullied for the sake of establishing a hierarchy. Fact is, nerds or anyone who differs enough from the established social norm are different enough and an easy enough target to be made an example of. It's everywhere in society, but where it's usually done subtly, kids are a lot more straightforward.

You talk about social skills, yeah, that's one reason that makes certain people easier targets. Yeah not everyone has the same level of social skills, but that doesn't equal being an arrogant snob. Some people, like me, just have more trouble verbally defending themselves, making themselves known. And that's an excellent opening for any insecure or plain cruel person to exploit.

Oh and there's no need to put victims in quotations. People kill themselves over bullying, people are damaged and scarred for life. I myself am going through psychiatry channels for over a year now as the mental fuck-up's mainly caused by my bullies through years of primary school, high school and college, is really damaging my life and future. Yes they're victims alright. Don't go about defending people who are hell-bent on making someone's life a living hell.

NinjaTigerXIII:Woh Bob, I'm sure I didn't just hear you make fun of Michael Jordan. That man went through so much hardship to get where he is today.

This is so true, just because he is in sports doesn't make his life any more or less important than bill gates.

And this is coming from someone who hates sports and decrys the lack of recognition that scientists are given.

I think hes talking about how bill gates was demonized for making billions of dollars for making something that has become an intergeral part of socity while Micheal jordan is made a hero for something that is in all reality just a frivolous past time.

Dont get me wrong, I like Micheal Jordan and Im a basketball fan (GO HEAT!) but I do recondinse that technology is far more important than 12 giants dribbling an orange ball around a wooden court.